Dr. Michelle Hook

Research Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of New England (1998)

Department of Psychology
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-4235

Office: 225 Psychology Building
email: michellehook@tamu.edu
Phone: (979) 458-1122
Fax: (979) 845-4727

• Learning and memory
• Recovery of function in the injured spinal cord
• Molecular mechanisms underlying spinal cord learning
• Laterality and culture in nonhuman primates

My research is focused on learning in the spinal cord and its implications for the recovery of function after an injury. Recent studies have shown that the spinal cord, isolated from the brain, is capable of single stimulus, instrumental and Pavlovian conditioning. This means that it has an inherent ability to learn about relationships between two stimuli (i.e., two shocks; Pavlovian conditioning) or between a stimulus and a response (i.e., flex leg to avoid a shock). My research looks at the capacity for learning in this system; what conditions does the spinal cord require to learn, and are there pharmacological interventions that can enhance learning? Behavioral and molecular techniques are used to address these issues.

From a clinical perspective, the capacity for spinal learning provides a unique opportunity to reshape the behavior of spinal cord neurons following an injury. To investigate this, we look at whether the injured spinal cord is able to learn, the behavioral effects of learning, and the molecular mechanisms underlying this learning. We assess the recovery of locomotor, sensory and other autonomic functions after exposing an injured spinal cord to a learning paradigm. We then look at what molecular changes underlie changes in behavioral recovery. Ultimately we hope to teach the spinal cord, using Pavlovian and instrumental conditioning, to facilitate the recovery of walking and bladder control, as well as other functions.

1. Grau, J.W., Washburn, S.N., Hook, M.A., Ferguson, A.R., Crown, E.D., Garcia, G., Bolding, K.A., & Miranda, R. (In Press). Uncontrollable Nociceptive Stimulation Undermines Recovery After Spinal Cord Injury. J.Neurotrauma



2. Ferguson, A.R., Hook, M.A., Garcia, G., Bresnahan, J.C., Beattie, M.S., & Grau, J.W. (In Press). Simple Transformation that Improves the Metric Properties of the BBB Scale for Rats with Moderate to Severe Spinal Cord Injury.



3. Hook, M.A. (2004). The evolution of lateralized motor functions. In Rogers, L.J. and Kaplan, G (Ed). ): Comparative Vertebrate Cognition: Are Primates Superior to non-primates?.Developments in Primatology: Progress and Prospects (Volume 3). (pp. 325-370). Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers, New York.



4. Hopkins, W.D., Wesley, M.J., Izard, K., Hook ,M & Schapiro, S.J. (2004). Chimpanzees Are Right-Handed: Replication in Three Colonies of Apes. Behav. Neurosc., 118 (3), 659-663.



5. Patton, B.C., Hook, M.A., Ferguson, A.R., Crown, E.D., & Grau, J.W. (2004). The behavioral deficit observed following noncontingent shock in spinalized rats is prevented by the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide. Behav. Neurosc, 118 (3), 653-658.



6. Hook, M.A., Ferguson, A.R., Garcia, G.,Washburn, S., Koehly, L., & Grau, J.W. (2004). Monitoring Recovery After Injury: Some Procedures for Deriving the Optimal Test Window. J. Neurotrauma, 21 (1), 109-118.



7. Hook, M.A., Lambeth, S.P., Perlman, J.E., Stavisky, R., Bloomsmith, M.A. and Schapiro, S.J. (2002). Abnormal behaviors may be socially transmitted in nonhuman primates. Applied Animal Behavior Science, 76, 165-176.



8. Hook, M.A. and Rogers, L.J. (2000). Development of hand preferences in marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) and effects of ageing. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 114 (3), 263-271.



9. Hook-Costigan, M.A. and Rogers, L.J. (1998). Lateralized use of the mouth in production of vocalizations by marmosets. Neuropsychologia, 36 (12), 1265-1273.

PSYC 340 - Psychology of Learning

Link to Vita